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How to import and export large datasets in mysql
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The Essence of AJAX – How I learned it in an hour
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How to get your kids to clean the kitchen table
First let me provide some context for this story. As you can see below, we have a collection of messy eaters. We leave food on the table after meals because the kids may return to finish it later. In this picture I found Hani cleaning up after everyone’s breakfast (he was hungry that day). There’s a tablecloth on in this picture but Nickalus used to use tablecloths to pull everyone’s bowl to him (the ones that didn’t fall off the table on the way) before he learned to get out of his seat, so we stopped using tablecloths except for special occasions.
As you can imagine the table gets layers of encrusted food (sort of like stalagmites) that get thicker over time and become very difficult to clean. One day when Candice was talking with a preschool teacher, she learned about a good way to clean up tables with shaving cream.
I even saw Demitri’s kindergarten teacher using shaving cream on a table with the students so they could write letters in it at the parents night last fall. So we decided we would make a game of it and have all the kids clean the table one Sunday morning before breakfast. We put all the kids at the table and squirted a bunch of shaving cream on it and told them to play in it. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I got a few good pictures.
Nickalus got some on his face and decided to try and lick it off – luckily his tongue is not long enough to reach. He must have gotten into some leftover pizza before breakfast that day, which explains the red sauce all over his face.
Then Demitri had the great idea to wash his hair with the shaving cream – which is fine since then we didn’t need to use shampoo later 🙂
Then Nickalus wanted to be like Demitri – or was it Nickalus who started it? I can’t remember. But Nickalus’ hair is so fine that he didn’t need any water to make suds.
Finally, after about half an hour of “cleaning” the table and subsequent baths in the sink for at least a couple of the kids (the ones with shaving cream in their hair also got their hair washed), we wiped up the table and it was so clean you could see your reflection in it!
How to Make a Wall-E Costume
We got the movie “Wall-E” for Christmas this past year, and the kids really love it. We’ve seen it over a dozen times in the past few months. One day when the kids were bored Candice got creative and told them they could make a Wall-E costume so they could play Wall-E (which means try to act, speak, dress, walk, and anything else like that character – in this case Wall-E). So with their help and suggestions, she took an old laundry hamper and cut holes in it for the arms, head, and the door in the front (where he carried items in the movie, like the plant). I took some pictures of our oldest son (who is 7) Kayin modeling the costume, which they have enjoyed for a few weeks now (even the babies try it on).
Here is a picture of Kayin standing up in the costume. This is like when Wall-E is riding around on his treads exploring the world. Candice used some electrical tape to keep the edges of the holes from tearing more and it’s a nice border. With these colors it is a little like a pumpkin costume, but we didn’t have a dirty yellow colored one (which would match Wall-E’s paint better).
In the next picture (to the left) Kayin is showing how the costume looks when Wall-E closes up into a box, to protect him when he is scared or when a dust storm is passing through. This is a rather round box, but that’s ok – some things are easy for children to imagine. 🙂
Finally, below Kayin is demonstrating the front door into which all sorts of treasures can be collected and deposited.
This version of the costume has no “floor”, so anything placed into the compartment will just fall to the ground, but that could be an improvement in version 2. The front flap is made from a piece of cardboard that is attached to the opening with electrical tape (or maybe black duct tape, I don’t remember). Like many of the best toys, this costume was home-made.
Relief for Sinus Infections
I had a sinus infection a couple weeks ago that actually helped me feel more confident about my health. I have a lot of personal experiences with sinus infections but this time I was able to overcome it without the need for antibiotics and that feels good even just to think about. So here’s my story:
The kids had been coughing on me for a while due to illnesses being passed around at school (and our ear infection episode), and finally I felt my throat getting sore and my sinuses began to hurt. One morning I woke up early with extreme sinus pain and couldn’t get back to sleep. I decided to mix up some of my natural nasal decongestant, and that felt like it burned up the infection in my sinuses – it was great, there was much less pain! But I was busy at work that week, and the next day I stayed up until midnight finishing a project.
That intensity brought the infection back, much stronger, and the ginger mix didn’t help as much (though it did some, I took it twice the next day). The pain was so bad the next night that I couldn’t even go to sleep, so I stayed up watching Jackie Chan movies to try and distract myself. In between movies I would sit still and try to meditate for a little while until the pain became my focus again. I also drank some water and ate some corn tortilla chips (I hadn’t eaten much that day except for some soup, and corn is drying so I hoped it would help reduce the mucus drainage). I also ate a few ginger chews that night (a candy made of basically sugar and ginger, with the consistency of taffy). Candice bought those ginger chews for me a few months before but they were too strong for me then, that night they went down easy. 🙂
So after a few movies the sun came up and so did everyone else. Candice suggested I try using a hot/cold compress to help with the pain, so I did and I felt so much better that I was able to sleep (sitting up) for 4 hours! Here is how that works (we learned this from a Naturopath in Oregon a few years ago):
Take 2 washcloths and get them both wet. Put one in the freezer and one in the microwave for 30 seconds to one minute (or if you don’t have one – like us – you can put it in a pan with some water on the stove and heat it up). You want to get it hot enough so you can barely touch it but not so hot that it burns your skin. Then put the hot wet washcloth on your face where it hurts (sinus area or forehead if you have a headache). Hold it there for about 2 minutes (if it doesn’t stay warm you may need to heat it up again during that time), then put it back in the hot water or in the microwave while you grab the cold one from the freezer and put that on your face (I usually stand up straight and press on the painful areas through the washcloth to focus the heat/cold on them). After about 30 seconds, put the cold washcloth back in the freezer, make sure the other one is heated up, and repeat the process one or two more times.
So after I had a good nap, I felt much better and was able to eat some more that day and get to sleep that night (after using another hot/cold compress before bed). I was feeling even better the next day and life got back to normal a bit, but I still had some drainage in my throat and I was still coughing up some mucus in the mornings. The mucus had become clear and my sinuses felt much better (though they were still a bit tender) so I thought the infection was over.
However, when Candice took a look at my tongue a couple days later she said there was still an external pathogen in my system (which made sense because the mucus became colorful again the next day). She told me to take some triphala, so I took about half a teaspoon mixed with some water twice a day for 2 days. On the third day I had a loose stool, so that’s when I knew I needed to back off with the triphala (it has a laxative effect). Candice suggested I cut back on the triphala and add a pinch of trikatu, only once a day. So I did that for a couple days and then stopped. By then I had no sinus pain (not even tenderness), my bowels returned to normal (after being loose for a couple days), and the mucus drainage had stopped altogether. Life is good 🙂
Here is a before and after picture of Nickalus eating some of my home-made nasal decongestant – he actually seemed to like it, he had four bites before spitting any out!
